Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber perform an unprecedented duet on the CD recording of Hey Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh, released in the U.S. Aug. 25 on the First Night label, distributed in the US by Phillips.
The two-CD set captures the June 8 London gala tribute to Mackintosh, the producer who world-premiered Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, Miss Saigon, Side by Side by Sondheim et al, and introduced to London Follies, Little Shop of Horrors, among others, 27 of which are excerpted here.
Performers include Bernadette Peters, Lea Salonga, Elaine Paige, Colm Wilkinson, Judi Dench, Jonathan Pryce, Ruthie Henshall, Ellen Greene, Michael Ball, Tom Lehrer and many more, with Julie Andrews as host.
The recording includes "Duelling Pianos," a remarkable first-time collaboration between Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber that takes off on Sondheim's own "Send in the Clowns" and Lloyd Webber's "Music of the Night," and includes the lyric "Acts on his whims,/Took a big chance,/Noticed his anagram said:/Cameron/Romance./He went to France./Send in the crowds." The two composers duet on the new lyric.
A commercial video release of the concert is scheduled for October by VCI of the United Kingdom, according to First Night spokesperson Chris Rayner.
Here is the songlist from the Hey Mr. Producer!, with the title of the show listed in bold: SALAD DAYS
Music by Julian Slade
"We Said We Wouldn't Look Back"
CATS
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber Cats Overture
OLIVER!
Music & Lyrics by Lionel Bart
"Food Glorious Food" -- Workhouse Children
MY FAIR LADY
Music by Frederick Loewe, Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner
''Wouldn't It Be Loverly" -- Liz Robertson, Gillian Lynne & Company
"Quit Professor Higgins" -- Company
"The Rain In Spain" -- Jonathan Pryce, Liz Robertson & Donald Sinden
"Get Me To The Church On Time" -- Peter Bayliss & Company
"I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face" -- Jonathan Pryce & Liz Robertson
INTRODUCTION -- Julie Andrews
SHOW MEDLEY
THE FIX
Music by Dana P. Rowe, Lyrics by John Dempsey
"One Two Three" -- John Barrowman
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
Music by Alan Menken, Lyrics by Howard Ashman
"Little Shop of Horrors" -- Wendy Mae Brown, Dawn Hope, & Femi Taylor
"Somewhere That's Green" -- Ellen Greene
"Suddenly Seymour" -- Ellen Greene, Teddy Kempner
GODSPELL
Music & Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
"Day By Day" -- Company
ANYTHING GOES
Music & lyrics by Cole Porter
"I Get A Kick Out Of You" -- Marion Montgomery & Laurie Holloway
SONG AND DANCE
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Lyrics by Don Black & Richard Maltby, Jr.
"Variations" -- Julian Lloyd Webber and Company
"Unexpected Song" -- Bernadette Peters
THE BOY FRIEND
Music & Lyrics by Sandy Wilson
"Nicer In Nice" -- Jasna Ivir & Company
LAUDER
Music & Lyrics by Harry Lauder
"I Love A Lassie" Jimmy Logan & the Scottish Power Pipe Band
FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE
Featuring the music of Louis Jordan, Lyrics by Larry Wynn, Jerry Bresley & Louis Jordan
"Five Guys Named Moe" -- Kevyn Brackett, Trent Kendall, Monroe Kent III, Jason Pennycooke, Clarke Peters, Richard D Sharp
"Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby" -- Kevyn Brackett, Trent Kendall, Monroe Kent III, Jason Pennycooke, Clarke Peters, Richard D Sharp
OLIVER!
Music & Lyrics by Lionel Bart
"Pick a Pocket" -- Russ Abbot, Oliver, Dodger & Gang
"As Long as He Needs Me" -- Sonia Swaby
INTRODUCTION Julie Andrews
MARTIN GUERRE
Music by Claude-Michel Schonberg, Lyrics by Alain Boublil and Stephen Clark
"I'm Martin Guerre" -- David Campbell
"How Many Years" -- Maria Friedman
MISS SAIGON
Music by Claude-Michel Schonberg, Lyrics by Alain Boublil & Richard Maltby, Jr. "The Heat Is on in Saigon" -- David Campbell, Lea Salonga, Company
"The Wedding'' -- Female Company
"Last Night of the World" -- David Campbell, Lea Salonga
"This is the Hour" -- Company
"American Dream" -- Jonathan Pryce & Company
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Lyrics by Charles Hart, Additional Lyrics by Richard Stilgoe
"The Phantom of the Opera" -- Lisa Vroman, Colm Wilkinson
"Music of the Night" -- Colm Wilkinson
FOLLIES
Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
"Broadway Baby" -- Maria Friedman, Julia McKenzie, Bernadette
Peters & The Broadway Babies
RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN
OKLAHOMA!
Music by Richard Rodgers, Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II "Oh What A Beautiful Mornin'" -- Hugh Jackman
CAROUSEL
Music by Richard Rodgers, Lyrics Oscar Hammerstein II
"Carousel Waltz/Ballet" -- Vadim Bondar, Dana Stackpole & Company
"Porch Scene" -- Hal Fowler, Joanna Riding, Dana Stackpole & Barbara King
"You'll Never Walk Alone" -- Joanna Riding & Company
INTRODUCTION -- Ned Sherrin
SONDHEIM
COMPANY
Music by Stephen Sondheim "Side by Side" -- David Kernan, Millicent Martin, Julia McKenzie, Ned Sherrin
"You Could Drive a Person Crazy" -- Maria Friedman, Ruthie Henshall Millicent Martin, Lea Salonga
A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC
Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim "Send in the Clowns" Judi Dench
FOLLIES
Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim "Losing My Mind" -- Michael Ball
COMPANY
Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
"Being Alive" -- Bernadette Peters
GYPSY
Music by Jule Styne, Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
"You've Gotta Have a Gimmick" -- Ruthie Henshall, Julia McKenzie, Bernadette Peters, Michael Ball, Judi Dench, Maria Friedman, David Kernan, Millicent Martin, Lea Salonga
INTRODUCTION -- Stephen Sondheim
DUELLING PIANOS -- Andrew Lloyd Webber & Stephen Sondheim
TOM FOOLERY
Music & Lyrics by Tom Lehrer
"Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" -- Tom Lehrer
CATS
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Based on "Old Possum 's Book of Practical Cats" by T. S. Eliot, Additional Iyrics by Trevor Nunn
"Jellicle Songs" -- Brian Blessed, Paul Nicholas & Company
"Memory" -- Elaine Paige
LES MISERABLES
Written by Alain Boublil & Claude-Michel Schonberg, Music by Claude-Michel Schonberg, Lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer, Original French text by Alain Boublil & Jean-Marc Natel
"At the End of the Day" -- Company
"I Dreamed A Dream" -- Ruthie Henshall
"Stars" -- Phillip Quast
"Do You Hear The People Sing?" -- Hal Fowler & Company
"On My Own" -- Lea Salonga
"Heart Full Of Love" -- Michael Ball & Marie Zamora
"Bring Him Home" -- Colm Wilkinson
"One More Day" -- Michael Ball, Hal Fowler, Ruthie Henshall, Tammi Jacobs, Teddy Kempner, Philip Quast, Lea Salonga, Colm Wilkinson, Marie Zamora and Company
"We Said We Wouldn't Look Back" -- Company
The CDs were recorded live at London's Lyceum Theatre in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II as a benefit for the royal National Institute for the Blind and an umbrella organization called The Combined Theatrical Charities. Part of the proceeds from the CD will also go to those charities.
Mackintosh's latest projects include Just So, a musical based on Rudyard Kipling's "Just So Stories," which is getting a workshop at Goodspeed Opera House in November. He's also reportedly considering moving a California production of Putting It Together to Broadway.
-- By Robert Viagas
